November 2009 Archives

TwinCities.com reported Nov. 19 on the arrest of two
people involved in creating a YouTube video showing a series of random assaults
on unsuspecting victims.

St. Paul police arrested two on Nov. 18, one adult and one
juvenile, said police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell.

On the morning of Nov. 17, St. Paul police began to receive
numerous e-mails and phone calls regarding the video of attacks, which
was posted on YouTube. The video appears to show young men randomly attacking
people, Schnell said.

The video shows many assaults, including knocking over a
bicyclist, pushing over a man walking, and chasing and pushing down a child.

Based on the settings of the video, investigators believe
that most of them took place in St. Paul.

The investigators of the gang unit have been in charge of
identifying the men who were involved in the creation of the video. In the
beginning of the video, eight men are introduced by their street names, such as
"Shark" and "Gun Play."

It is hard to
determine whether the victims were seriously injured or not, Schnell said. The
young men videotaping usually ran away or stopped taping following the assault.

Twelve attacks are included in the video, titled "Watch This
T.V."

The person who posted the video closed his or her account
after removing the video Tuesday morning.

This video is related to similar videos that have come about
in the past 10 years, which depict acts of violence. One such video gained
national attention. The March 2008 video showed the beating of a
16-year-old Florida cheerleader. Five teenage girls were convicted because of
the video.

Anyone who has been victim of the young men seen in the
YouTube video should call St. Paul police at 651-291-1111.

CNN.com reported Wednesday that the city of New Haven
will promote 14 firefighters who were involved in a reverse discrimination case
that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 14 were part of a group one Hispanic and 19 white
firefighters, the "New Haven 20," who fought the city after it threw out
a promotion exam given in 2003 which too few minorities passed. They claim that
the city gave preferential treatment to blacks.

The U.S. District Court issued a judgment that said that the
city violated civil rights when it threw out the exams.

Matt Marcarelli, a white firefighter, earned the top score
on the written exam in 2003, but after the city reviewed the test results
Marcarelli was denied a promotion.

"Every day I go to work I've got to pin this lieutenant's
badge on me, it reminds me I got screwed out of a captain's badge because of
the color of my skin," Marcarelli said before the promotion, ABC News reports.

Out of New Haven's 221 firefighters, blacks make up about a
third of the workforce.

CNN.com reported Monday about the jail sentence of a
Chinese blogger who helped the victims of a 2008 earthquake.

Huang Qi was sentenced to three years in prison, the maximum
sentence, his attorney, Mo Shaoping, said. The charges were for "illegally
holding secret state documents," Shaoping said.

Huang blogged to help families of children who were killed
because of the collapse of poorly constructed school buildings during the May
12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake. He was detained in June 2008.

The U.S. State Department protested the ruling, explaining
that Huang's activities supported China's efforts to institute the rule of law.

Huang made posts on his human rights site, 64Tianwang,
criticizing the way earthquake relief was being handed, according to Reporters
Without Borders.

"The reports we are seeing are biased," Huang wrote on May
20, 2008, according to Reporters Without Borders.

"The government is using its propaganda to portray itself as
a savior to little avail. Few citizens trust the government because of the
corruption scandals that already occurred during similar disasters in the
past," Huang wrote.

Huang also posted appeals and complaints of families
affected by the earthquake.

Officials said they found two government documents in his
residence. Huang was charged with illegal possession of state secrets after the
posting and was tried secretly in August, Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International protested the sentencing. "The
government is penalizing someone who is trying to help the victims of the
Sichuan earthquake. Huang Qi should be treated as a model citizen, committed to
the rule of law, but instead he has fallen victim to China's vague state
secrets legislation," said Sam Zarifi, director of Amnesty International's Asia
Pacific program.

Reporters Without Borders said last week that despite Huang
suffering bad headaches, he had been held in "very harsh conditions."

Mo said Huang plans to appeal the sentencing, but if he
cannot lift the sentence, Huang will be released in June 2011 after serving his
three years in prison.